Telstra chairman's regret

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New board chairman Donald McGauchie believes Telstra should have been fully privatised years ago.

In a book marking the 25th anniversary of the National Farmers' Federation, Mr McGauchie, a former president, outlines some of his regrets while running the federation. One was the full privatisation of Telstra.

"The arguments concerning the privatisation of Telstra should have been settled years ago, but there are too many agendas requiring fulfilment for the Government's policy goal to be realised soon," he said.

A director of Telstra since 1998, Mr McGauchie was this week appointed chairman. In the book released yesterday, but written well before his appointment, Mr McGauchie said he was using his time on the board to boost country phone services.

"It would have always been my preference to achieve more solid improvements in rural telecommunications, although my current membership of the Telstra board enables me to pursue that cause," he wrote.

He also thanked the Prime Minister. "John Howard permitted extraordinary access to NFF to promote our policies on the privatisation of Telstra, the GST, the Wik dispute and the waterfront," he said.